PORT BURWELL, ON — A black throated gray warbler, a bird common to the
west coast, extending from the lower mainland of British Columbia and
throughout Mexico, has been spotted near the Lake Erie harbour in Port Burwell, Ontario.
The bird, unknown in Ontario until now, was spotted by bird watcher
Ron Allensen and just in time for the Port Burwell Christmas Bird
Count.
According to Allensen he was looking for birds in the harbour area on
Monday when he heard a call he was unable to recognize. He discovered
the source in a red cedar.
“I
glimpsed the dark stripes on the sides of a white breast,” Allensen
said. “I had a warbler. A warbler in December.”
But not just any
warbler.
The unique call told Allensen he had an unusual bird and he was unable
to immediately identify it.
“In
all my decades of birding I have never seen a female black-throated
gray cheeked warbler,” he said. He knew he would need witnesses but
photographic proof would be better. He obtained a digital camera and
returned to capture the bird’s image.
